well, let me start by saying i really expect for all of my expectations to be shattered. in a good way. i think. 🙂
i expect to be really nervous before i leave and at the same time so excited i won’t be able to stand it. i expect to not sleep the night before i launch. i expect to miss my friends and family so much it hurts. i expect to become family with the people on my team. i expect to cry a lot and laugh a lot, too. i expect to fall in love with new people and places. i expect to be angry about the injustices i see. i expect to question things. i expect to change in good ways; but i expect it to hurt. i expect to make inside jokes that i will be telling for months after re-entry. i don’t expect anyone here to understand. i expect to skype a lot. mostly with grandma and julie. i expect to have a love-hate relationship with my backpack. i expect to see miracles. i expect to have a better perspective on my life and how the Lord wants to use it. i expect to eat new foods. i expect to be stretched in many, many ways. i expect to do things completely out of character, hopefully shaping it into something better and more like jesus. i expect to miss my comforts at home. i expect to see scripture come alive in a way i can’t explain. i expect to want to go home. i expect to develop an immunity to things that are gross. i expect things to be challenging. i expect to get dirty. i expect for the Lord to provide in creative and unimaginable ways. i expect to develop confidence and boldness in who i am in christ. i expect to be flexible. i expect to learn patience. i expect to reveal more of myself than i ever have before. i expect bad coffee. i expect to make priceless memories. i expect to learn what it means to be a world changer.
i hope to change the world…
“as it is my eager expectation and hope that i will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” -philippians 1:20
